Chapter 15 Recap: On their next training mission following the defeat of Multo, Jack finds Jonas harrassing Sam in the corridor outside their connpod. Once in the connpod, Jonas continues to haragnue Sam over Banshee's headset, triggering a Random Access Brain Impulse Trigger and panic attack. Sam chases the rabbit and Jack is pulled along with her through the drift. Jack witnesses a vivid memory of Sam's assault at the hands of Jonas. The memory runs its course, and they regain awareness in Bella's connpod.
WARNING: Violence, Language
Sam didn't fully come out of her fugue until Janet's voice registered in her ears. Her heart raced, but her hands and limbs worked. She released herself from the drive interface, dropping heavily to her feet. Janet braced her when she stumbled; Sam pressed her hands into Janet's forearms, struggling to catch her breath.
"Dammit, I said don't release the interface," Janet muttered, her fingers already looking for a pulse to monitor.
"Sorry," Sam whispered, struggling to regain her composure.
"Sam?" Janet looked up at the sound of her voice, her murmur brightening at the sign of alertness from her. "Can you hear me?"
"Yes," she huffed. "I'm okay. I'm fine, I'm sorry…" She suddenly caught sight of Marshal Pentecost standing just behind Janet. "Sir," she clipped out, straightening to attention.
Pentecost stepped forward, still giving Janet room to work. "Are you alright?" His tone was not one of a Marshal, but someone who knew where she'd gone down the RABIT-hole, and understood.
"He saw," Sam blurted, shame flooding her cheeks. "He saw everything." She couldn't face O'Neill, knowing the pity that would be staring back at her. He- Her eyes raked the connpod, and beyond the med team and the Marshal, it was empty. He wasn't there. Everything she knew of O'Neill, from the drift and beyond, told her that he would be there, waiting, worried. Unless… "Shit."
She tore off her helmet and dashed for the hatch. Janet called after her, but the Marshal's voice called the doctor off. Sam sprinted up the ramp, following the white painted line to the control room. She turned the last corner in front of LOCCENT's hatch and froze at the sight of Jack with his hands around Jonas' throat Jonas choked and gurgled, his bruised face turning purple. One hand clawed ineffectively at Jack's grip- the other dangled limply, broken.
"O'NEILL!" Sam propelled herself forward and tore O'Neill's hands away, her fingers digging into the sensitive nerves surrounding the delicate wrist bones for added incentive. "Stop!" she shouted. Jonas collapsed onto his back, coughing as he scrambled to put distance between himself and O'Neill. His nose bled heavily, coating his mouth and chin with blood. Jack lunged past Sam, dead set on inflicting more damage. She got around him again, planting herself between them with arms flung wide. "Jack, don't!"
"I'm gonna kill him!" Jack roared. Sam looked him in the eye and almost lost her footing when she saw the rage burning back at her. They held for a split second before his brimming eyes turned once more on Jonas. "You sick bastard!"
Sam kept herself between them. "Calm down!"
"NO! Not after what he did-!"
He tried to push past her again, and this time Sam grabbed him by the arm and spun him around. Before he could catch his bearings she slammed him up against the bulkhead, pinning him there with her forearm pressed across his chest. "I don't need this!" she cried.
Finally, her voice cut through Jack's red haze. Whether it was the shrill of her voice or the wobble of emotion that fluttered her words, she didn't know. But he stopped, and looked at her, eyes wet. The fight bled from him, and his lips pressed into a shaking line. "I'm sorry." His voice cracked. "I'm so sorry."
Carter froze, unable to pull away. Her forearm across his chest was no longer a restraint, but support- for whom, she couldn't say. Her own bearing slipped, a sharp breath catching audibly on the sudden lump in her throat.
"Marshal on deck!" Tendo called out, heralding the arrival of Marshal Pentecost. A crowd was gathering now; more faces poked out of LOCCENT, Manhattan's team among them. Jonas clambered to his feet, cradling his arm. Sam slowly released Jack and only turned to attention when she was sure her face was still.
"Marshal, sir!" Jonas sputtered, spraying blood as he gasped for breath. "He's insane! He attacked me!"
"Ranger, I am still puzzling why the hell you were anywhere near the control room in the first place, let alone on comms!"
Hanson's finger pointed accusingly at Sam. "Proving what we already knew! Carter is unfit to pilot! Unstable-"
Pentecost stepped into Hanson's space, looking him dead in the eye. "The competency of any pilot is not your call to make, Ranger," he growled, spooking Hanson into immediate, but brief, silence. He recovered quickly, meeting the Marshal's glare yard for yard.
"With all due respect, sir, if she weren't your pet dog, you'd be able to see she's a liability."
Carter froze, locking her eyes on the bulkhead across from her. Eyes turned on her, inspecting her flushed cheeks and trembling fingers. Jack clenched his fists in rage, consumed by the emotions forced on him through her memory. Sam felt what little of the base's esteem she'd won back the day before quickly evaporating. Jonas wasn't wrong. LOCCENT's records would show who had chased the RABIT. Anyone would be able to see how she'd dragged O'Neill down the hole with her.
The Marshal let her return to the pilot program because she'd promised she was ready. She had failed. The adrenaline still tingling down her fingers testified that she'd failed her test. She failed the Marshal and his expectations of her. She failed the program, in taking Banshee away from a more stable pilot. And most painfully, she had failed her copilot. The Marshal had one recourse to preserve the soundness of his judgement: Pentecost would have to demote her immediately, publicly, and then put her back into engineering. Sam swallowed, and steeled herself.
"What liability do you mean, Hanson?" Kowalsky asked, his voice carving through the sudden silence like a knife. Every gaze in the corridor turned from Sam to regard her unexpected defender. Ferretti nodded his agreement, coming to stand beside his copilot.
"Yeah," Lou chimed in. "Banshee is the best weapon in the entire fleet, thanks to Sam. Or maybe you were referring to the two kaiju she bagged on her first drop in two years."
"Ranger Carter saved our lives yesterday," Kowalsky continued. "And yours too, considering that Multo likely would have landed on your doorstep if Banshee hadn't been there."
"Everyone, shut the hell up!" Pentecost barked. He jabbed two fingers at Team Manhattan, who both straightened visibly. "This is not a discussion, or some goddamned measuring contest." His pointing hand shifted to Hanson, who bristled in anticipation of the incoming reprimand. "And you. I've had just about enough of you. The next time you call my personal relationships into question, you will answer to me, personally. And I guarantee you will not enjoy it."
He then turned to address Sam and Jack as well. "The three of you can expect official inquiries into today's events. In the meantime, you," he pointed at Jack, "will stay clear of Hanson, and you," he pointed again to Jonas, "will stay clear of both Ranger Carter and Ranger O'Neill. Any attempt to violate these orders will be met with charges against the UCMJ." He regarded the three of them. "Am I understood?!"
"Yes, sir!" the three of them responded, Jonas trailing just enough behind to communicate his lack of respect. Pentecost ignored it.
"Team Banshee!" he barked. "Doctor Frasier has business with both you. Hanson, report to Doctor Warner. Dismissed!"
Pentecost waited, and for a second no one moved. Then, they all did at once. Reality slammed into Carter before she could even realize she'd been holding her breath. The lump in her throat had spread to her chest, tightening her ribs around her heart. Her pulse thundered in her ears, and she could still feel O'Neill's dark energy simmering beside her. Din rattled against the smooth concrete walls, pounding against her temples. Not giving O'Neill a chance to react, Sam ducked her head and escaped down the nearest corridor, ignoring Jack's intake of breath as he prepared to call her back. She left the stares and recrimination and Jonas behind her, and went anywhere they weren't.